2021 Tasmania Escape featuring Hobart and Strahan

Welcome to Hobart, Tasmania. Hobart is one of Australia’s great destinations for both those relocating and those looking for an amazing tourist destination.

The city’s vibrancy is attributed by its many layers – the Salamanca markets, the arrival of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, the last port before Antarctic expeditions and the unmistakable philanthropic (as well as) cutting edge impressions that local David Walsh has created. Consider arriving a day earlier and enjoy the vibrant Salamanca Markets on a Saturday afternoon.

Our trip officially starts this morning at 10am, with staff meeting you at our hotel. Later in the day we will head out on our warm up ride offering great views of the city. We’ll return to the city in time to enjoy a welcome drink at a local wine bar and officially welcome our guests at our welcome dinner. You’re conveniently located close to the wonderful harbour precinct with its many restaurants, rich history and great pubs. Your guides will be on hand to help with check-in, prepare your bike ready to roll and go over the trip ahead.

Discover the taste sensations of the Apple Isle as we target the oysters, salmon, apples and cherries around the Huon Valley.

Many Australian restaurants source their freshest ingredients from Tasmania. It is little surprise that the beautiful countryside of the Huon Valley delivers the finest produce. Today we set our sights to the south west of Hobart as we head through Taroona, which has the highest shot tower in the southern hemisphere. This is our first iconic detour for today.

We then follow the Derwent River enjoying views to Bruny Island. Once we reach aptly named Oyster Cove we head through the countryside and join onto the Huon River and Kangaroo Bay. We will stop for lunch, enjoying the freshest and finest produce before our final part of our ride along the Huon River and finishing at one of the great Apple Cider Brewery that proudly make cider using traditional methods.

We’ll travel back to Hobart after a relaxing afternoon in the sunny courtyard.

Discover the Coal Valley and historic Richmond and the Museum of Old and New Art.

Hobart is the second oldest city in Australia. It’s centre is on the western side of the River Derwent, but the original penal colony and defensive outpost was established on the eastern side. Prior to Europeans, the Palawa people occupied the isolated island for more than 30,000 years. Within 50 years of European settlement, just 47 Palawa’s had survived the violence and disease, and within the next 50 years all pure descendants had succumbed.

Palawa people who had survived were often put to work beside convicts to build key infrastructure for the expanding colony. Colonial Australia is on display in Richmond, our main stop today. We can rest on the banks of the Coal River under the main attraction, the Richmond Bridge. A short distance away is the Richmond Gaol and the oldest Catholic Church in Australia. The Ice Creamery, cheese shop and lolly shop are also a must-visit.

Our ride finishes at MONA today, where we can explore the museum – curators took the opportunity of COVID to redesign several aspects. This is the most unique gallery I have personally ever visited and can at times feel disorientating. David Walsh’s creation is an international hit, and is most noted for its central themes around sex and death.

Discover the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, ‘The Wall’ sculpture and the 99 Bends to Queenstown.

We will take our transport this morning out of Hobart and start our ride from the fascinating museum/art installation of ‘The Wall’ in Derwent Bridge. Situated at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park the art installation is a Huon Pine wood sculpture that is 3m high and over 100m in length depicting the rich history, flora and fauna of Tasmania. It took Greg Duncan, the curator more than a decade to complete.

After visualising the history of Tasmania, we jump on our bikes and enjoy a mostly downhill run to Queenstown, crossing the Franklin River. From the road we can see the wilderness landscape of the King William Range, with the most prominent feature being the Frenchman’s cap. A short climb to Gormanstown, an historic mining village we have the fun descent along the 99 bends to Queenstown.

Tonight we’ll enjoy a meal together.

Explore Strahan today.

This morning we will ride to Strahan, where you have the option to continue the riding adventure to the beach involving some gravel. Alternatively be off the bike by lunch and explore Strahan in the afternoon. There are many individual options for you to explore this afternoon, maybe a cruise on Macquarie Harbour or take to the air with a helicopter tour over the Wilderness areas. If you’d like something more active, take the one of Tasmania’s greatest short walks to Hogarth Falls.

Tonight we’ll enjoy another meal together.

Discover the West Coast Wilderness Railway.

Today we give our bikes (and our legs) a rest and substitute our pedal power for a wonderful step back in time with the scenic steam train through the western Tasmania’s cool temperate rainforest. Your journey will travel along the entire West Coast Wilderness Railway line. Starting along the Macquarie Harbour we follow the King river to one of the once busiest ports in Tasmania Teepookana. We criss-cross the King river and dive into the forest toward the Queen river along the only operating Abt rack and pinion section in the Southern Hemisphere.

We will travel back to Hobart this afternoon, preparing for our final ride tomorrow.

Finish with the iconic summit track to kunanyi / Mt Wellington and a Cascade Brewery stopover.

Today we have one our toughest rides, not for its distance but its vertical ascent. One of the most distinguishing features of Hobart is the looming landscape or silhouette of Mt Wellington. The Palawi people called the mountain kunanyi, and since 2013 it is recognised as kunanyi / Mt Wellington. There is an observatory at the top which provides stunning views across Hobart, the Derwent estuaries and about 100km of World Heritage Area to the West.

Our return journey is abbreviated with a stop at the Cascade brewery. To make good beer, one needs a good clean water source or a mountain spring, and that’s what ensured that Cascade is the oldest operating brewery in Australia.

Sadly today we farewell our guests on our cycling adventure around Tasmania.

We’ve experienced cycle through World Heritage Wilderness, Hidden Coves and fascinating historic villages and much, much more. We have various shuttles to the airport throughout the day, enabling you to connect with your preferred flight back home.